I thought this was telling, and it pretty much defines one of the central issues with contracting in general. To pay bonuses, despite these issues, shows a complete lack of real accountability or quality control by the government. Bottom line, and I will use my house analogy, you cannot contract out the building of a home, take a vacation in Mexico, and come back expecting that home will be built perfectly. You must be involved in the process to insure it is built to your specifications and to code. Because if you don’t watch over it, of course things will get screwed up. So why does the government continue to contract out this stuff, and not care about quality control? Worse yet, how do you not care especially after soldiers have been killed by electrocution in some shower in Iraq or Afghanistan? Despicable. –Matt
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U.S. Army paid bonuses to KBR despite questions
Wed May 20, 2009
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. Army paid “tens of millions of dollars in bonuses” to KBR Inc, its biggest contractor in Iraq, even after it concluded the firm’s electrical work had put U.S. soldiers at risk, according to a source close to a U.S. congressional investigation.
The Senate Democratic Policy Committee plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to examine KBR’s operations in Iraq, and question why the Army rewarded the Houston-based company.
The panel says KBR has been linked to at least two, and as many as five, electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers and contractors in Iraq due to “shoddy work.
Investigators believe hundreds of other soldiers may have received electrical shocks, the source added. The Army is investigating.